Known in the art is a method of imitating a natural geyser and a device for carrying out the method. Such a device consists of a geyser chamber located at a considerable depth under the surface of the ground (see USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 461700, A. G. Merzhanov, et al). The chamber is provided with a heater and a pipeline for the supply of cold water. Connected to the chamber is a vertical channel through which a mixture of boiling water and steam erupts. The upper end of the aforementioned channel is located on ground level or slightly above ground level.
In addition to the above-described method, in order to increase the amount of expelled water, it is known to arrange the input end of the geyser channel slightly below the level of the upper cover of the geyser chamber (see USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 2015574, U. I. Goldshleger, et al). As a result, when water begins to boil, the amount of steam formed in the process constantly grows and, in the initial period, does not have an exit from the chamber. The steam develops pressure in the direction of the water surface, and this pressure begins to expel nonboiling water through the channel. Hydraulic resistance to advancement of water in the channel assists in increasing pressure and temperature in the chamber. After the level of water in the chamber drops to the input end of the geyser channel, the latter begins to receive a significant amount of steam. Pressure in the geyser quickly drops, and eruption is initiated.
A common disadvantage of both methods and devices of the type described above is that the chamber and heaters are located deep underground, i.e., much below the outlet end of the geyser channel. Diameters of chambers even of small artificial geysers should be of the order of several meters. Therefore, construction of such chambers at a significant depth from ground level is a very time- and labor-consuming process. The drilling of wells of such diameter is very expensive even at an insignificant depth. No less complicated is subsequent placement of geyser chambers in the aforementioned wells. The chambers of such artificial geysers are special boilers that are provided with powerful heaters (burners or electric heaters) and temperature and pressure measurement instruments for controlling temperature and pressure in the boiler. For these reasons, artificial geysers have not been created until now in spite of their principle simplicity and efficient imitation of a natural geyser in combination with their cognitive value. Artificial geysers have not yet been demonstrated either in parks, schools, or Disneyland-type facilities. Small-scale geyser models that are demonstrated in the San Francisco polytechnic museum known as the Exploratorium, possess insignificant power and are characterized by a very low height of eruption (about 1 meter). Therefore, such models practically do not imitate the process of a natural geyser, and their structure consists merely of a chamber and a tube.